A Day At The Races
Thursday June 23, 2011 Out for about five days now, and four of them have been hard summer rain! Less miles on the bike than I had hoped for, the rain has been heavy with much thunder and lightning, 30 mile an hour winds have made for hard riding the last few days. It seems to be in my face more often than not. This year I made sure goggles were packed in an easy to reach place in the panniers. They are a life saver (literally). I have had spokes on the back wheel beginning to fail, luckily spokes are always in the bag, but I only have about 5 on board. The original rim is still on the rear of this beauty and will need to be up-dated to modern materials soon, should have been done during restoration. The rear wheel is a 3 piece hub with thin spokes. I am sure it was great in it's day for racing, but loaded with 50 pounds of gear and my 165 pounds are beginning to take a toll. The front rim was changed out at the last minut prior to leaving due to the fact it was wrapped in a sweet Panaracer and was a bit more stout than the original. I was not sanguine to the notion of a rim folding in a hard downhill power turn. (as I write this Oct 9, 2011) Both the front and rear wheels have been up-dated to dual wall aluminum with the rear hub having been changed out as well. I can now change the gear cluster down the road as I figure out the best combo. Stuck with a six stack for now. The upper range could use a granny for future longer trips.In this part of the mid-west we have many rollers with steep climbs that demand proper gearing. Today is the big day! yea cool bike races for all bike fans and curious on-lookers. Continuos rain showers have not slowed the riders at all. A few have lost it in the turns which has added an element of drama. Surprising how many people have showed up to watch, we are a hardy folk here in the mid-west. These are elite riders, even the ametures spin at a good clip. A few were not fast or near the front of the pack, but my hat is off to any individual who has the courage to participate. Bike people are a different breed from my experience, very competitive-focused and driven, can endure long periods of what some call 'riding the pain threshold', but will after the ride can be found having a great time and a few beers together. During my early days in this sport, that attitude took me off guard in some odd way and felt intiimdated, not to worry it is just a different (higher) level of concentration needed to keep balance-coordination and the amount of injuries to a minimum. Add a race to the mix and you become integrated or 'one' with bike and road..NICE A full day (12 hours) of back to back racing in te rain made it all worth it. From the gals to the guys we all had a great time...At the end of the last race, the weather cleared and sun finally came out! The weather report is calling for a couple of days of sunny breezy conditions that mean... On the road again bright and early tomorrow morning.